Week One/Two: A Failure

Week One/Two: A Failure

During this week, we searched the internet to figure out ways to accomplish creating our web shooters. We found a video about making a simple DIY coil gun, and decided to try to begin with that.

We gathered the materials that the process required, and we copied the video as best we could.

We used a pen for the small tube, and we used insulated wire for the coil the first time we attempted to assemble everything. At first, we thought it might work because the battery we were using as a homemade capacitor was conducting heat, but it didn’t end up doing anything. When that attempt failed, we sought out where we went wrong.

Thinking our error was in the insulated coil, we re-coiled the tube with uninsulated wire. This time, we thought we’d be able to get it to successfully shoot, so we loaded the barrel (the plastic pen tube) with a staple, hoping it would work. Through electromagnetism passing through the coil, the staple should have been shot out of the barrel, knocking over the small standing piece of paper.

It never worked..

Then we searched through the comments for more clarification of what was exactly happening in the video, and we realized that the video was completely fake judging by the negative feedback everyone was commenting. So basically, we just wasted an entire week and a half on a project that wouldn’t work.

Halfway through the second week, we searched for another video to follow.

This time, we made sure to check the comments to see if it was a reliable source. They turned out to be positive, so we went through and began gathering the materials that were required.

We went to Walmart on Friday and we bought 3 disposable cameras to take apart for the use of the capacitors.